Tab List

Friday, February 24, 2012

Godly Sorrow

Discovered this verse while doing my bible study last night and I wondered why it had never clicked for me personally in the past. Heck, I’ve had more than my share of sins and excel at it today. The Godly sorrow in the verse speaks not of God’s sorrow when we fail, it speaks of our sorrow for falling short of what we know we should do.

When we sin, we feel some level of regret. I find the more I understand God’s desire for my life, the deeper I regret behavior that is disrespectful to God. Deep regret should ultimately lead to repentance...not only asking for forgiveness, but altering our actions or circumstances so as not to repeat the sin.

Getting from Regret to Repentance can be extremely difficult. It certainly may seem impossible for someone stuck deep repetitive in the sin. Let’s face it, some sins just seem too fun to leave behind today when we believe we can do so tomorrow. I don’t need to tell anyone about sin.

The good news is that we are given the strength to make that change and live true heartfelt repentance.

The second portion of the verse stating “worldly sorrow brings death” is more challenging. If we fail to move from regret to repentance, the worldly sorrow and shame associated with sin remains in us. This is an encouragement wrapped in a warning. God is urging us to seek true repentance and not to dwell in regret and sorrow.